Pros
If you want to get in to recruitment, join for the three month training plan and then try and move somewhere else. The training is well structured with them being a large corporate, but you're better off learning what you can and using your skills somewhere else. London is also quite a diverse office which is very positive!
Cons
I wasn't new to the recruitment world and have never worked in a recruitment company where so many people were so strapped for cash. The commission structure is so poor, it's almost slave labour. You are sold a dream when you interview, however they are very shady about the commission structure and flexibility. Turns out you are expected to bill your base salary x4 a year before seeing any commission..not only this, but there are so many splits with other teams, making any decent commission is very unlikely, particularly in your first three years. I went from an average deal of 15k to 2k at Robert Half. I had never worked so hard for so little... There is also NO flexibility, I joined with the understanding that I would be in the office 3-4 times per week. Two weeks before I joined, I was told they had 'made changes' and needed us in x5 days a week. This significantly effects travel costs, which was part of negotiating my base salary upon joining. I was told after 6 months, new joiners would get Fridays from home...6 months went by, we were then told we needed to be in the office x5 days a week for the foreseeable future. There were some great, hardworking people at Robert Half, but you have to carefully find them amongst the snakes. Anyone that has been there for a long time, remains there because they have backstabbed and lied their way there. You can't trust anyone. Strange cult like culture...many people that have been there for a long time, joined fresh out of uni and actually have never experienced working anywhere else. They truly believe that they are working for the best business, however have nothing to compare it to. If you tell anyone that they could be earning much more money elsewhere, they say that they stay for the culture... In terms of culture...yes people go for drinks, but it's very clicky. There were also NO drinks or incentives put on by Robert Half, which is very shocking, considering part of the appeal to work in recruitment and work the long hours is so that you can enjoy some team dinners and drinks. They hosted a summer sports day where everyone had to bring their own food and drink, hosted in a free park... The company are clearly going through a tough time, we were told to cut back on expenses, only taking clients for coffee and a sandwich if we had to... I believe they just recruit new starters for build up their database and then get rid of them after completing the '13 week plan' so that more senior members of the team can benefit from any new contacts. Finally, a really awful and uncomfortable place to work as a women. On multiple occasions I felt objectified by colleagues and senior management, very dated culture, most of them stuck in the 80's. Regularly I would hear men discussing womens outfits, inappropriately touching colleagues and making sexist and sexual remarks. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my whole career, when leaving the business I went to reach out to the HR email address provided to give feedback, but the email bounced back due to the provided email address being invalid... I truly feel sorry for any women experiencing issues like this within this business, as it seems very clear to me that anyone making accusations against any of their senior management or top billers, would not be taken seriously and unfortunately I believe would be silenced to protect the money billed by some of these toxic characters. All in all, if this wasn't enough to put you off, I would recommend joining more of a mid sized or boutique agency where your earning potential is much higher, with the likelihood of working in a more progressive environment!
